It’s a small ad campaign after all!

Earlier this year Disneyland reopened its 45-year-old “It’s a Small World” boat ride after a lavish renovation. On my recent visit to the park, I floated through the legendary attraction four times–since it was one of the few rides declared “not scary” by my kids. The ride is fabulous with vibrant colors, rich lighting, and crisp sound. But there’s one big difference between the revamped version and the one I remember from my childhood. Among the anonymous singing dolls, you’ll find Disney characters.

It’s a small ad campaign: Can you spot Jessie?

As we floated by a beefeater guarding the Tower of London, my daughter spotted Alice in Wonderland. In Italy, near the Leaning Tower of Pisa, my son pointed out Pinocchio. Ariel surfaced in the waters surrounding Hawaii, and Mulan starred in China. My children engaged in a sort of “Where’s Waldo” game of finding Disney characters. They were entirely unaware of the ride’s international theme. If I told my kids the ride was originally built as a charity-minded effort in the years following the Cuban Missile Crisis, they probably would have asked me, “Are you talking about a movie?”

The advertisements injected throughout Disneyland and California Adventure are impossible to miss. We caught the Playhouse Disney show in California Adventure featuring the Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, and the gang from “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” At the end of the performance, the MC said something along the lines of, “Boys and girls, be sure to tune into the Disney Channel at home.”

Most of the classic Disney rides have been retrofitted to carry some kind of cross-promotion burden. I didn’t go on the Pirates of the Caribbean (since it was considered “way to scary” by my kids), but I know that Johnny Depp (a robotic version of him) now makes a few appearances in it. I guess this makes sense since the movies are based on the ride. Thank goodness the Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion movie based on the attraction of the same name wasn’t a huge success or the comedian might pop up in the ballroom. But instead the Mansion shills Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” during the end of every year.

And then there are all the gifts shops, an opportunity for Disney to push their wares. I saw a gift shop strategically placed at the exits of most major rides. There was one right outside of It’s a Small World. We walked through it four times and on every visit I had to say, “No! I will not buy you the Woody doll,” and then practically drag my children by their ears to get them to move on.

But while parents like myself enjoy making ourselves sound intellectual by ragging on Disney for being over-commercialized, we have to remember that pushing products is nothing new to Disneyland. In fact, the park, opened in 1955, was founded on this premise. Walt Disney convinced ABC to help fund the park in exchange for a weekly TV program. Walt hosted the show, called it “Disneyland,” and used it as a way to promote his park. With the miniseries about Davy Crockett, the show spawned the biggest kids’ fad of the decade–the “coonskin” cap (10 million of which were sold). Disneyland has always been one big advertisement. Although I think it’s probably fair to say that product placement has been amped up in recent years, don’t you think?